Help us create a

Give refugee kids and their new friends the space to play

"Imagine a world with more playgrounds and less battlegrounds. If we want to live in a world where all our children are free to explore and express their inner artist and scientist, we must create it before anymore playgrounds disappear, and the battlegrounds continue to spread."

The first Refuge Playground project will be a refugee playspace in Germany.

Why a play space for refugees and their new friends?

Today, over thirty million kids around the world are displaced from their homes and families due to war, conflict, persecution, occupation, natural disaster, deportation, child trafficking, slavery, military enlistment and food shortages. Not since World War II have there been so many kids displaced around the world, the majority of which are under the age of twelve.

Those kids remain scared, deprived and even depressed because their basic needs continue to go unmet. But if we do not meet all their needs, especially when it comes to trauma, the negative impacts and the costs to those kids, their families and the communities they call home will go on for many years to come.

Who's behind this?

Refuge playground is an inititaive of play experts and social activists from around the world who provide dedicated play spaces with trained play workers and therapists for refugee kids and their new friends to create and build their own playground. Join us.

We are pleased to announce that Germany's Bund der Jugendfarmen und Aktivspielplätze e.V., (National Federation of Youthfarms and Adventure Playgrounds) has joined us.

Hans-Joerg Lange

CEO Bund der Jugendfarmen und Aktivspielplaetze e.V. (german federation of city farms and adventure playgrounds). Co-founder of the European Federation of City Farms (EFCF), Board member of Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Offene Jugendbildung Baden-Württemberg

Judith Fischer

Joe L. Frost

Marcus Veerman

Australian with a background in primary education, outdoor leadership, and design-build learning, Marcus founded Playground Ideas after spearheading the construction of 40 bespoke playgrounds along the Thai/Burma border.

David Whitebread

David Whitebread, University of Cambridge Professor, Developmental Cognitive Psychologist and Early Years Specialist, Head of the Lego Foundation's Play Matters Centre for Research at Cambridge, from the UK.

Robin Brouwer

Why a 'refuge' playground?

Play is a fundamental form of therapy for traumatized children. A tried and tested approach calls for the creation of a dedicated play space with trained play workers and therapists that can ensure a safe and caring environment for kids to freely express themselves through the play process.

In fact, in the aftermath of World War II there were hundreds of thousands of displaced kids all across Europe. So international humanitarian organizations, government officials, and child welfare experts first created playgrounds for from waste material as a successful intervention to heal Europe's displaced kids during post-war reconstruction.

Now, imagine if today we repurposed, reclaimed and recycled loose-part materials including those taken from the battleground for a playspace. There refugee and German kids could create and build a playground where future artists and scientists could freely explore new possibilities beyond their surroundings.

Boy plays in refugee camp at old Nazi airport hangar in Berlin

In Berlin children play in the aftermath of World War II

One of the over thirty million children displaced around the world

"We've made an old solution better."

Adventure Playgrounds served as a refuge to heal the hundreds of thousands of Europe's 'lost children' displaced by World War II

Want to know more?

Here are some blog posts that go into more detail about the Refuge Playground project:

What is a 'refuge' playground?

A Refuge Playground provides a safe and caring play space for all kids, especially those displaced from their homes and families due to war, conflict, persecution, occupation, natural disaster, deportation, child trafficking, slavery, military enlistment, food shortages and disease. In the play space, trauma trained workers facilitate access to recycled, reclaimed and repurposed physical loose-part materials and tools for those displaced kids and their new friends to freely express themselves in the play process. There kids of all backgrounds and experiences including those of the host community come together to envision new possibilities beyond their surroundings by creating, building and developing their own playground.